Skip to main content

Eight.

I have gained 8 pounds in one week.

Yes, you read that right.

If you were with me at my doctor's appointment this morning when I saw that number on the scale - you would have seen me bawl my eyes out.

I had another RA appointment today.  My doc wanted to go over how meds have been the first week, review more blood work done (which apparently I need to get used to...2 more rounds of blood work were ordered today), and go over the results of x-rays I had done last week.

Diagnosis of RA was even more solidly confirmed today.  He put my level of severity of the disease on a scale of 1-10 at a 6 or 7.

He also prescribed more medicine to take in addition to the ones I'm already taking.

Swell.  (Yes, that is sarcasm.  Yes, I am using that.  Yes, generally I am against sarcasm.)

Cue tears.

I started to read a bit more on RA this past week.  I found a blog that I really like on this disease.  I have heard from so many folks that either have this disease or another auto immune one like this.  A friend of mine put me in touch with a gal who also lives in East Africa and was diagnosed 9 years ago and she and I have been swapping stories and I have been greatly encouraged by her.

Also, this past week - in perfect God timing - one of my favorite families ever - came to visit us for a couple days and I got to have a good cry (and a cup of tea) over this with them.

There has been some good stuff this past week.

And, I'll be honest, it's been hard.

I've been EXHAUSTED.  I never take naps.  And this week I was snoozing at the dentist while having dental work done.  A side effect of the medicine.

I've been EMOTIONAL.  Generally, I feel like I've good grasp on my emotions.  But, lately, I just want to cry all the time.  A side effect of the medicine...and I think just really trying to process all of this.

I've GAINED WEIGHT.  This is so hard for me.  I eat well.  I work out.  Yes, I took off a couple days this week but I still got in 4 good workouts and ran a race.  Words cannot begin to tell you how awful this side effect is for me.  Insert more EMOTION (aka tears).

I am up to taking 8 pills a day.  I despise medicine.  Like, I don't even like taking tylenol and will generally refuse that.  So, 8 pills is...yea 8 pills.

I have no good way to wrap all of this up except with a link to an article that a friend of mine (thanks Theresa!) sent me from the Gospel Coalition on chronic pain.  (Read here.)  I've read it each day this week and there's such beauty and truth in this article.  The thing that I can praise God for in all of this is that having this disease reminds me that this world is sinful and broken and all will be made perfect in heaven.

Come, Lord Jesus.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Craving a burger & chips?

Oh wait.  Chips?  That's what you all in the States call french fries. Burger & fries? It's a meal that I used to love. A good cheeseburger with mayo, lettuce, onion, pickle, tomato on a warm bun.  Add in some fries with ketchup.  Ok, and let's be honest…add a coke.  Oh, a cherry coke. My type of comfort food. When we started to change the way we ate, I knew that in making this a lifestyle, that I was going to have to have my type of "comfort foods". For the first 6 weeks of changing how we ate, I had my friend & nutritionist, Stephanie, plan all our meals.  It helped me get to know what type of foods to eat, portion sizes, and just help me out with meal  planning and prep work. It was bliss. She even wrote out all my grocery lists of things I needed to buy at the store for the week.  Talk about a  mama's dream.  It was heavenly. One of the meals she planned out for me were these chicken avocado burgers. Oh. M...

Eating well is KEY

The way I started to focus on a healthier lifestyle was through trying to clean up my eating first. I lowered the amount of cokes I was drinking and then lowered how many chips (french fries) I was eating. SLOWLY (and I emphasis that word) I made changes to a healthier lifestyle. I started to purchase more fresh produce for the house….instead of chocolate. Things like that. Nothing was done overnight.  I don't think that would have worked for me at all.  It's just not my personality. My friend/trainer/nutritionist, Stephanie, taught me a ton about nutrition.  I read everything she sent to me on eating clean. It all just clicked with me. Then I watched a couple nutrition/food documentaries and those educated me as well. After watching "Fed Up" our family cut out sugar.  That was one that was almost an overnight thing…a couple items took longer..but for the most part after watching the documentary, we went through our house and cleaned up our eating e...

Athlete.

OH MY LANTA! My doctor called me an athlete today.  (She should be knighted.) She also said I had strong abdominal muscles and arm muscles (heck yes, she felt 'em!). After doing a pretty complete physical, she said I was healthy and strong. OH MY LANTA!! (Insert sobs here) Never in my life have I had someone in the medical field tell me that.  Do you know how AWESOME that feels? I've always been told the complete opposite. All this hard work pays off. Saying no to the junk pays off. Running 4-6 miles 6 days a week pays off. Lifting weights pays off. Holding that darn plank pays off. HIIT circuit after HIIT circuit pays off. This is a sweet moment in life that I'm at right now. I love that I'm HEALTHY. Now, to be honest, I still have 11 more pounds to go to be in the healthy range for my BMI…but she wasn't worried that I would get there soon…and I'm not worried either.  I'll get there this summer for sure! But, I'M HEALTH...